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Nolan County Sheriff’s Office reserve deputies sworn in

Nolan County Sheriff David Warren recently swore in two newly approved reserve deputies.On Tuesday morning, Oct. 2, the Nolan County Sheriff’s Office added two more members to its roster. However, these two men won’t get paid a salary for their efforts. Stephen Smith II and Chad Mitchell were sworn in as reserve deputies for the Nolan County Sheriff’s Office.Both men recently completed their training and graduated from Academy #88 of the West Central Texas Law Enforcement Academy in Abilene. Smith and Mitchell endured night classes and Saturday classes over a seven-and-a-half month period to obtain the 796 classroom hours needed to finish the academy. Both took and passed their state licensing examinations and are now fully licensed peace officers.What sets these two apart is they both have other careers and are entering law enforcement in a volunteer capacity. “This is rare these days and very encouraging,” said Sheriff David Warren. “Volunteerism is something that has declined in recent years and reserve officers used to be able to take a much more abbreviated amount of training to achieve their 'reserve deputy' status. Now they must take the same full amount of training as any full-time officer,” said Warren. “We actually sponsored Stephen Smith through the academy and Chad Mitchell just chose us as his agency to volunteer for. These guys will be placed with experienced deputies and go through a field training program and orientation with our Sheriff’s Office,” explained Warren.Stephen Smith II is the eldest son of local residents Steve and Jan Smith and works for U.S. Airways. Chad Mitchell lives in Abilene and is lead pastor for Mission Abilene and was instrumental in starting the program Stop the Violence now entering its sixth year. Both men have a genuine passion to be involved and help people in this area. Sheriff Warren emphasized, “I am proud to have these two additional deputies and certainly appreciate their unselfish attitude and willingness to risk their own lives to serve folks here in Nolan County in an un-paid capacity.”